


You Are The Reason

by hopelessmikaelson



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Aftermath Of Josie’s Confession, Alaric Isn’t Headmaster, Everyone Hates Josie, F/F, Hope’s Dorm Fire, Hosie Childhood Girlfriends, Semi-Canon Compliant, The Whole School Knows Josie Started The Fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-11-21 12:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18141905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessmikaelson/pseuds/hopelessmikaelson
Summary: “You are the reasonI’m losing my sleepPlease come back now”OR Josie’s confession causes Hope to leave without warning. Josie is left to deal with the consequences of past her actions all on her own.





	1. You Are The Reason

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Josie’s 1x12 confession. The timeline might not add up but I can’t do math so good luck.

Hope had been gone for 6 months now. She left with nothing but a small note to say she’d be back sometime in the future.

Josie was worried for her. 6 months without a word from Hope was eating her up inside, and with every day that passed, Penelope’s plea for Josie to take her back became more and more tempting. She needed something, someone, to get her through this. How could someone expect her to go from clingy girlfriend to happy bachelorette overnight?

For the past half of a year, Josie fell asleep to the same words and had the same dream _every_ night: 

> _Hope your birthday wishes come true, Hope_

The twins’ 16th birthday hadn’t been long ago, which meant it hadn’t been long since she’d blown out her candles and wished that she could spend the rest of eternity with none other than Hope Mikaelson.

Now, every morning she woke up with a smile on her face, and the fading memory of the two exchanging vows with one another in front of all of their closest friends and family. It was followed by her opening her eyes to the harsh reality of her bedroom ceiling, and the cold feeling of a half-empty bed next to her.

Her morning routine was the same, only now she woke up an hour earlier to make enough time to escape to the woods away from the school. There, she’d pull out the necklace she was given on her birthday to perform a locator spell, but each time she was met with nothing.

There were two possibilities, and though one was _monumentally_ worse, both hurt just the same.

  1. Hope had abandoned Josie and cloaked herself so Josie could never find her.
  2. Hope had died.



In either case, Josie had _lost_ her. She’d lost the one person who she let see every side of her. The one who saw selfless, caring Josie, and also saw selfish, dark Josie, but most importantly, _stayed._ She wasn’t used to people staying. All her life, people had been scared away by the sister she loved so so much, or they’d learned that even if they took advantage of her, she’d still come back around when they asked for something the next day.

‘I deserve this,’ Josie thought to herself. She’d made a mistake in the past, a _big_ mistake, and she deserved everything that was happening because of it.

Lighting Hope’s room on fire, lying to Lizzie to drive a wedge between her sister and Hope, or letting Lizzie believe the most powerful student at school believed she was nothing but crazy - none of these were forgivable. Josie lay awake at night cursing herself for being so stupid. She’d known that the two girls would one day find out, and she’d expected her relationship with both to take a hit, but she hadn’t expected Hope to just disappear on her. Lizzie’s reaction was a little more manageable. She’d basically ignore Josie’s existence, unless the Josie happened to ask her a direct question in which case she’d answer with a simple yes or no and then continue on with her day. As small as it seemed, Josie was more than relieved to know that her sister wasn’t cutting her completely out of her life, and knew not to push her luck in trying to get her sister back. She knew that the only reason Lizzie was still talking to her at all was because the two were practically inseparable before the night Lizzie found out Josie had lied to her.

These days, Josie found herself getting into bed alone. No Hope, and no Lizzie either. The latter had asked the school administration to move her to a new room, and she went through with it, even after finding out the only empty bed was next to Penelope Park.

Lizzie’s choice to room with Penelope ‘Satan’ Park over her own sister was not lost on Josie. After everything she’d done, she deserved that too.

* * * * *

A year had passed since Josie had last held Hope’s hand, since she’d last seen Hope smile, since she’d last heard Hope’s voice, and since she’d last seen the look of both disappointment and disgust on Hope’s face after being forced to confess to setting the fire.

Lizzie would now give her single sentence responses, but nothing else positive had changed in the past months. She still fell asleep to the little note Hope had given her a year and a half ago, but now her dreams were no longer about the two of them getting married. They had gone from being about the happiest day of her life, to a complete and utter nightmare. Whenever she fell asleep, she imagined Hope coming back to the school, only it wasn’t a happy reunion. Hope would walk back into the school and pass by Josie as if the two were strangers, and then leave with all her things and her sister Lizzie in tow. The two would always share a searing kiss on the way out, and Josie would never hear from either of the two for the rest of her life.

As bad as Hope dying was, her inner darkness allowed her to believe that her death would mean that there was a chance she’d been intending on returning to Josie, but that she’d been stopped before she could.

Josie hated the evil within her. She’d done everything in her power to suppress any of its signs, thoughts or urges from ever seeing the light of day, but little by little, they became more and more noticeable.

Seeing Lizzie hang around Penelope sometimes made her want to siphon every bit of magic from her ex and watch her lifeless body drop to the ground. Watching her grades slip from 99’s and 100’s to 49’s and 50’s made her want to strangle each of her teachers until they could no longer breathe. And a year of no response from the girl she truly believed to be the love of her life made her want to set fire to the school and watch as everyone within its walls was burned to a crisp.

They weren’t good thoughts. She knew that. But to get herself out of mandatory counselling sessions, she had to keep those thoughts to herself. She’d still have to meet every once in a while and lie to Emma about why her grades had slipped from perfect to barely passing, but she could handle those.

Josie spent her free time learning to paint, and reading and writing poetry. In the fire she’d set when she was 12 years old, Hope had lost the only painting she’d ever made with her father. She knew it would never be the same, but part of her believed that if she could replicate the artwork, things might be different. She also knew how much Hope’s father had loved poetry, and how that alone had made poetry something sacred to Hope herself. She wanted to write something for Hope in case her girlfriend, or more likely, ex-girlfriend, ever returned. She didn’t know if Hope would read it at all, but thought it was more likely the tribrid would read her message than listen to a speech.

* * * * *

Painting was _hard._ Painting from memory was _harder._ Painting from a five-and-a-half year old memory? _Almost impossible._

The colours weren’t right, the spacing was off, the pieces were uneven. Everything about it was _wrong,_ and the more times she got it wrong, the more she convinced herself that Hope would only return once it was perfect.

Canvas after canvas was spent redoing the same thing, over and over and over again. She knew the cleaners had thought she was crazy, but Josie was grateful they’d never said anything to her or anyone else about it.

There was now half of her room, Lizzie’s half, that was full of stacked canvases and half-empty paint cans. The other half, her own half, was covered in newspaper, paintbrushes, and books about painting. Her room was a mess, maybe even more so than her mind, and she was just glad she didn’t have to share a room with anyone else. She could avoid interacting with other students now that the student body as a whole had heard about what she’d done and hated her for it, but it’d be a whole other task to try to explain to a roommate why their side of the room was objectively uninhabitable.

In her time between paintings, Josie would spend her breaks reading through poems, and trying to write her own. No longer were her days spent on homework and studying. They now consisted solely of mandatory classes, painting, poetry, and a meal delivered to her door anonymously after dinner. She knew it was Lizzie - only her sister would think to make sure she ate something each day. Every night at 8pm, Josie would receive a knock on the door, and a tray of food would be waiting for her on the other side. She’d carry the tray into her room, place it in the same spot in the centre of her room, and cry herself to sleep. She didn’t deserve Lizzie, and she wanted so badly to tell her how appreciative she was and how much she loved her, but she was afraid it would scare Lizzie away. And so she would go about her day and pretend she didn’t know who left the meal there for her, while secretly hoping that one day, she’d find Lizzie knocking on the other side of the door.

* * * * *

Senior year. Senior year was days away from beginning. Josie hadn’t seen Hope since the middle of 10th grade, and this would be the second year in a row she’d have to attend without any sign of Hope.

Just like last year, Josie made no effort to arrive to class on time. Without Hope, there was no reason to attend classes at all, forget arriving on time. Every time she was brought into the headmaster’s office, she’d be given the same spiel about how school was preparing her for the future, and how improving her academic performance was going to positively influence her future success. Josie would nod her head politely and say that she was going to try harder, but she never meant it. What was the point of preparing for a successful future if Hope Mikaelson wasn’t in it? Could a future without Hope Mikaelson even _be_ successful?

Josie had long given up on school. The only reason she still went to classes was to make sure the school never called home. In the school guidelines, the same school guidelines Josie had memorized when she was 7 years old, it stated that unless a student was missing consecutive classes or receiving a grade below 40, the school would refrain from contacting parents/families. The point of the boarding school was to separate the supernatural kids from the outside world, and while Josie was grateful her parents had spent thousands of dollars to allow her to attend the Salvatore School, she was never more grateful for the school guidelines than in the last year and a half.

* * * * *

Josie arrived to first period fashionably late, and knocked on the door before noticing the empty classroom. Confused, she made her way to her second period classroom, and found that one to be empty as well. Josie sighed, and dragged her feet as she headed toward the school office.

“Hi, my first and second period classrooms are empty. Is something going on?”

“There’s an assembly happening in the auditorium, I believe we’re welcoming a new student. Unfortunately I’m not quite sure, and I can’t remember her name. Sorry.”

“That’s fine, thank you.”

Josie smiled at the unfamiliar secretary and exited the office, stalling as she slowly made her way toward the auditorium. She hated school enough, but wasting her time going to an assembly was somehow even more annoying. There was 10 minutes left, and Josie figured she may as well go in before her teacher marked her absent. She decided she’d just check in, and then head to the back and close her eyes for the last few minutes of whatever boring speech was being given.

Walking through the doors, the brunette waved at her teacher and headed straight for the back row and the empty aisle seat in the far corner. She did her best to avoid interacting with all the students, but it seemed today that every student was particularly interested in making eye contact with her. With an exaggerated huff and dramatic drop into her seat, Josie shut her eyes and attempted to block out the noises around her. All of that was fine until she recognized a familiar voice. A voice she’d missed hearing in what felt like _forever._

Shooting up from her seat, Josie saw _her_ standing up on the stage next to the headmaster. She spent the next few seconds pinching herself, kicking herself, and screaming internally to wake up, but none of that worked. She laughed sarcastically at herself and how torturously real this dream felt, before noticing the room fall silent. Every eye in the room turned to her, and she slowly scanned her surroundings before finally landing upon Hope’s blazing blue orbs.

She swallowed nervously and fidgeted with her fingers. Despite her being so sure this was a dream, every part of it felt so real. She looked down at the floor after a few moments, and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

“What was your question, Miss Saltzman?” the headmaster asked into the microphone in front of him. It was then that Josie realized she’d stood up during the question period.

“Uh- oh, umm. I mean- Nothing, sorry sir,” she stammered. Blinking her eyes to draw herself back to the present, she bolted to the auditorium door and back down the hall to her dorm room.

* * * * *

An hour later, the headmaster knocked on Josie’s door. She scrambled to make her room look half decent, as well as come up with an excuse for her behaviour earlier that day.

“Umm- Just a second!”

Throwing a tarp over the canvases in the corner, and another over the mess on the floor, Josie made her way to the door. She opened the door just enough to be considered polite, and then wedged her foot behind the door to prevent it from opening any further.

“Good morning sir, how may I help you?” she asked with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Good morning Miss Saltzman. I noticed that the second bed in your dorm hasn’t been filled for quite some time, and figured that a new roommate might help to get your academics back on track.”

_Oh no._

“I believe the two of you have met before, is that right, Miss Mikaelson?”

It was only after turning to view her response that Josie noticed Hope standing behind the headmaster. Seeing her curt nod, he said his goodbyes and left the two girls staring at each other from a few feet apart.

“Umm...” was all Josie could muster.

“Hey... mind if I drop some of my things off? I can unpack later if now isn’t a good time. Also, I tried to have me moved to a different room, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Uh- y-yeah...okay...umm... Why don’t you leave your things there and I can bring them inside? It’s kind of messy and I don’t want you to trip on something...”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll be fine. I’ll just leave everything off to the side and give you time to clean up while I go get my school schedule sorted out.”

“I- Umm.. Okay...”

Hope wheeled her bags into the room before abruptly stopping in the doorway.

“When you said messy, I didn’t think you meant _this_ messy...”

“Y-yeah... Sorry, I’ll have it sorted out before you get back.”

Hope looked around skeptically.

“I can help if you want. It looks like there’s a lot–“

“NO! I mean- no, thank you.. Sorry...”

Hope raised an eyebrow in question of the girl’s outburst, but figured she was probably still on edge from the assembly incident.

“Okay.. I guess I’ll see you later then...”

With that, the tribrid spun on her heels and swiftly made her way to the office.

Josie shut and locked the door before collapsing in the middle of the room. She wanted so badly to curl up into a ball and cry, but wasn’t even sure if crying would be out of relief and happiness, or fear and confusion. Instead, she had no choice but to pick herself up off the ground and attempt to clean up two years worth of mess.

* * * * *

The room was presentable now. Basically everything on the ground had been cleared, and all would be fine if not for the overwhelmingly large stack of canvases now located in Josie’s corner of the room. She didn’t know why she had kept all her failed attempts at recreating the lost artwork, but she was wholeheartedly regretting it in this moment. She couldn’t just dispose of them without anyone noticing, and her only other options were either to leave them where they were for the time being, or, _ironically,_ to burn them before Hope got back. She opted for the former, being well-aware of the attention an indoor fire would bring, and how a fire in Hope’s dorm room as soon as she returned would definitely not help her chances of reconnecting with the girl.

Josie tied the tarp around the paintings, and tried her best to camouflage it with clothing. She uncharacteristically threw her clothes against the tarp to make it look natural, and then moved a nightstand to cover part of it.

Seconds later, Hope was at the door.

“It’s me.”

“Coming!” She tripped awkwardly from her questionable word choice and attempted to rephrase her answer. “I mean- on my way!”

Josie answered the door with her eyes glued to the ground.

“I did my best to clean it. If I missed something, just let me know...”

“It looks much better, you did a great job.”

“Umm.. thanks..”

The two shuffled around the room with Josie doing her best to be as far away from Hope as possible while she unpacked her things. Finally, the bell signalling the end of lunch rang.

“Gotta go! Don’t want to be late for class!” Josie scrambled to grab her things, and then made a beeline for the hallway, nearly crashing into a half dozen objects along the way. As she made it into the halls, she heard Hope laugh lightly behind her. She turned to look into her room and watched as Hope continued to gently place her belongings into drawers, and, _for the first time in a long time, Josie genuinely smiled after getting to hear the love of her life laugh once more._


	2. Still Fallin’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _After all this time, you’d think I’d be,_   
>  _Used to the pull of your gravity._   
>  _And after flying so high for so long,_   
>  _Who would think, I’m still learning, still burning, still falling..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait - I rewrote this three times and have come to the conclusion that this is the best you’re going to get from me!
> 
> dt hosiecrumbs

Josie made her way to class.. or _tried_ to. After accidentally walking into the wrong room _at least twice,_ she finally managed to subdue her Hope-riddled thoughts long enough to locate Ms. Featherwood’s class.

On the board, in bold, capital letters, was the word **HEALING**. Josie wasn’t late, but it seemed the class had already began a light brainstorming session on what that word meant to the students.

Surrounding the large letters were short bullet points:

  * fix something that’s been damaged
  * recover from trauma
  * restore back to health
  * mend what’s been broken



As she stood in the doorway to her new classroom, Josie felt slightly dizzy. There were a lot of things that needed healing in the world, pre-confession Josie knew that better than anyone, but current-day Josie couldn’t help but believe that those words were placed on the board as a sign that her relationship with Hope wasn’t broken beyond repair.

‘We just need to heal,’ she spoke to herself.

“What’s that?”

Josie jolted in place, and everything she’d been carrying in her arms moments before now lay spread across the floor in front of her.

“Hope!”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. Here, let me help you.”

The two bent down and began collecting the siphoner’s things before both their hands landed upon the last object: a small heart-shaped eraser Josie had somehow forgotten about. A small heart-shaped eraser Hope had jokingly gifted to her for Valentine’s Day years ago.

“I- I got it.. thanks.. for your help.”

Hope let go, and all Josie could do was revel in the softness of the other girl’s hand.

“Are you.. do you need help getting up?”

First, she heard laughter, probably from the other students in the room. Then, she heard the gentleness of Hope’s whisper, asking her if everything was okay.

“Fine! I’m fine! Thanks again, for helping me.”

She stood up much too quickly, and felt the effects of chronic starvation kick in as the room around her went dark for a brief moment. She awkwardly waddled toward an empty desk before her vision returned to her, and sat down in the chair, grateful there weren’t any further complications.

Hope picked the desk directly in front of her, and Josie knew there was no way she be able to pay attention for the rest of class.

Every thought in the world currently whirled around her brain. Every thought pertaining to Hope, that is.

_Did she sit in front of me to be close to me? Why didn’t she sit over there? Does she just want to make sure I’m okay? Are we friends now? Is sitting in front of someone a friendly gesture? Could she have sat there just because? Am I overthinking this? **Why** am I overthinking this?_

For what felt like the millionth time, she was pulled from her thoughts by Hope, along with the entire room staring at her.

“Surely I haven’t been gone long enough for you to have forgotten your own _name.”_ Hope took the opportunity to poke her tongue out to let Josie know she was joking.

Taking a second to compose herself, Josie responded with a joke of her own.

“I haven’t forgotten. But in case _you_ have, my name isn’t Shirley.”

Hope’s laugh was cut short by a voice ringing out from the front of the class.

“Josette Saltzman, all I need is a simple ‘here’.”

“Sorry, ma’am. And it’s Josie.”

“Thank you, Josie. Will I be needing to separate you two girls for the rest of today?”

“No, ma’am. Sorry again.”

The rest of the period went by agonizingly slowly. Every time she wanted to reach forward and tap Hope on the shoulder to tell her how pretty she was without even being able to see her face, Josie would think about the possibility of Ms. Featherwood moving her to another seat, and suddenly the reality of being stuck sitting close enough to smell the tribrid’s shampoo wasn’t _so_ bad.

Getting a front row seat to watch Hope’s fingers twirl in her hair and the twist of her other wrist as she moved her pen across the page also wasn’t the _worst_ thing in the world.

As she let herself get hypnotized by the way Hope’s head turned to follow her hand movements, Josie thought about how _even though things weren’t perfect, in that very moment, they also weren’t terrible._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Going forward, the Salvatore School headmaster will be Dorian]


	3. Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Honestly, it's me,_   
>  _I am so messed up._   
>  _Making all the ones_   
>  _Who care about me wanna run._   
>  _The sunset's black and white,_   
>  _It didn't used to be._   
>  _I remember when_   
>  _It was pink skies,_   
>  _Just you and me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter - I’ll do my best to have them longer from here on out.
> 
> dt elizajcarey

In her time of isolation, Josie had missed _a lot._

For starters, Lizzie and MG were now together. Like _together_ -together. And apparently, Penelope and Lizzie seemed to not hate each other as much, as the former had moved out of her own room and given her bed to MG so her friend could room with his new girlfriend, who Penelope had used to _despise._

* * * * *

Josie stood from her seat and waited so she could be the last to leave. She was curious to see if Hope and her would share the same class again, and decided to follow from behind so she could pick a seat next to Hope if that was the case.

She watched as Hope suddenly sped up, heading toward something in the hallway that Josie wasn’t quite sure of.

A moment later, she heard an excited squeal, followed by:

“Lizzie!”

“Hope!”

Her sister and ex-girlfriend were now in a full embrace, as if the two hadn’t seen each other in years. Technically they hadn’t, but Josie was in no mood for technicalities. When did _that_ happen? Hope had up and left without a word to anyone as far as Josie was aware, which meant the two never would’ve had the opportunity to sort out their feelings in the aftermath of her confession. Obviously something didn’t add up, because Hope and Lizzie were chatting animatedly, and Hope was smiling and Lizzie was listening and now _everything_ was wrong.

She stared on as Hope gave Lizzie a kiss on the cheek and told her she had to get going, but that she’d meet up for lunch. Lizzie looked overjoyed, and might’ve even said something to the effect of ‘can’t wait.’

Lizzie? Actually _wanting_ to spend time with Hope? Was this an alternate reality? Lizzie hated Hope, and Hope was supposed to be hers, **_not_** Lizzie’s...

Nothing made sense any more, and in the span of an hour, Josette Saltzman had felt herself go from hopeful and happy witch, to bitter and jealous bitch.

* * * * *

To top off her wonderful morning, Josie had a second period class without Hope, and her new teacher was none other than Headmaster Williams, the man that’d been on her case for missing classes and sliding grades for the last 2 years.

The brunette slumped in a seat at the back and put her head down.

_How could this simultaneously be the best and worst day ever..._

* * * * *

When Josie awoke, Mr. Williams was directly in front of her.

“Ms. Saltzman.”

“Yes, sir?”

“You slept through my class.”

“Sorry-”

“While I am aware that you are meeting the school’s minimum requirements to remain enrolled in our school, I am considering involving your parents if this behaviour continues any longer.”

“No, pl-“

“I let a lot slide in the last few years because of your circumstance, Ms. Saltzman, but I’m afraid that I can no longer do that in good conscience. Your individual success is my number one priority as headmaster and your teacher, and I was hoping a new school year would be the perfect opportunity to turn things around. Am I wrong?”

“No, sir. You’re right, this is my chance to be better.”

“Good. Then we can start by having you remain _awake_ for my class tomorrow.”

Josie flushed red and turned her head to the side before responding.

“Yes, sir.”

She left before she could be embarrassed any further.

* * * * *

The _cafeteria._ She hadn’t been to the cafeteria since...

In the far corner sat Landon, Rafael, Penelope, MG, Lizzie, and last but not least, Hope.

The six of them were already eating and engaged in whatever conversation, and none had thought to look or wait for her. Logically, it made sense: she hadn’t joined them for lunch in years, why would they look for her now? But emotionally, she was dying inside. She could maybe get over the others forgetting about her, but Hope, too?

It’s not like she could even force her way into the group if she wanted to, because her spot at the six-seater table was now occupied by _Penelope_ of all people.

Josie grabbed her tray of food and dragged herself back to her dorm. _Another year of eating alone, only this time, she didn’t actually want to._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment with feedback, opinions, or suggestions on where you’d like the story to go from here!


	4. Oceans Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Few thousand miles_   
>  _And an ocean away._   
>  _But I see the sunrise,_   
>  _Just like the other day._   
>  _Picture your eyes_   
>  _As I fall asleep._   
>  _Tell myself it's alright,_   
>  _As the tears roll by._

Josie almost dropped her tray when she opened her door, and if it hadn’t been for the ugly green tarp on her side, she would’ve sworn this room belonged to someone else.

Hope must’ve used a little magic to redecorate. There were now lamps and flowers placed all around the tribrid’s side of the room, and fairy lights were strung across the walls.

In reality, there hadn’t actually been too much done to the other girl’s half, but with Hope’s touch, it’d gone from feeling like a warehouse with a bed, to a home. And since they were staying here together, Josie thought that with a bit of work on her end, perhaps it could be _their_ home.

* * * * *

Third period rolled around uneventfully, and fourth period was much of the same. Some of her old friends now acknowledged her presence, but nothing more than pleasantries were exchanged.

For the second half of the day, she’d wondered what her friends, her sister, and Hope had been up to today and for the last few years. It was saddening to think that Josie had missed seeing her best friend ask out the girl he’d been pining for since the two were children, and even sadder knowing that she’d missed her sister get asked out by the first boy that really saw her for who she was underneath her cold exterior.

Her friends and sister had all gone on to do things... things that didn’t include her.

She missed all of them so much. She missed the hugs, the holding hands, the smiles, the late night conversations.. at this point she even missed fighting with them. She just wanted to talk to them again, to get to know what was on their minds and where they’d been for the last few years. She wanted everyone back, but if she had to pick two, she’d pick Hope and Lizzie in a heartbeat.

And, as if on cue, the girls landed right in her line of sight, in an isolated corner of the common area, once again wrapped in each other’s arms and smiles written across their faces.

“I missed you!”

“I missed you more!”

They giggled together, and it seemed as if their actions were in sync as both leaned back in for another hug.

Josie stood still, transfixed and unable to do anything but stare. Her limbs felt detached and her body numb as she watched the _impossible_ happen: the two leaned in, and their lips met briefly.

When their silent kiss turned to a burst of laughter, Josie managed to get her legs working, and ran for her room without looking back...

* * * * *

“Sorry!” they apologized in unison between breathless laughter. Neither had meant for that to happen. They’d planned on each giving the other a kiss on the cheek, but both ended up doing so at the same time.

Lizzie took the moment to engage in her usual playfulness and embarrass the older girl.

“I didn’t know you liked me _that_ much, and I’m _flattered,_ but before you continue, I should let you know that I have a boyfriend.”

“Shut up! You know it was an accident! Plus, it’s not like you’re my type anyway,” Hope added with a wink.

“Excuse me? I’m _everyone’s_ type.”

“Well, in case you were curious, I’m generally into nice girls that are a lot less narcissistic.”

“I am _not_ narcissistic!”

“And how many selfies did you send me while I was in New Orleans?”

“It wasn’t.. that many...”

“I vaguely recall getting _at least_ 10 a day. I’m pretty certain after two and a half years, that’s somewhere close to 10,000.”

“You never complained,” Lizzie challenged.

“Would that’ve stopped you?”

“I mean, probably not, but only ‘cause I know you would’ve been lying anyway.”

Hope blushed as her eyes made their way down to the ground. She shuffled her feet for a few seconds before she spoke again.

“You know, you were in my dreams...”

“I was?”

“Yeah... New Orleans had my aunts Freya and Keelin, but I never made any friends my age there. I may have lied to you about going to a regular school too...”

“What do you mean?” Lizzie asked, clearly confused.

“I just assumed that you’d eventually go back to talking with Josie, so I pretended I went to a regular school and that I was popular and had the most amazing friends ever... The truth is, I spent those years at home doing online classes... The part about having the most amazing friends ever was true though. Well, _friend,_ I guess.”

Lizzie looked at Hope with sincerity, and nodded encouragingly for her to go on.

“You were that friend, Lizzie. You were the one friend who got me through it all. When I’d feel sad and lonely, I’d get a text from you with a joke that’d make me laugh, next to a photo of you making a silly face, and then I’d feel like, even though you were thousands of miles away, I wasn’t so alone.”

She stopped to try to keep the tears from leaving her eyes, but spoke quickly once the first tear fell.

“I know it’s stupid-“

“It’s _not_ stupid, Hope.”

Lizzie reached her hand out to grasp Hope’s free hand in hers, and led the two of them to a nearby couch.

“I dreamed of you, Lizzie. It’s stupid, but every night I fell asleep, I’d pray that it’d be you I dreamed of, because that’d mean my dreams would be full of happy thoughts of us getting along when we were kids. I know we fought _a lot,_ but when we started that food fight in sixth grade, or when we filled your dad’s office with paper balls, or even that one time you complimented me on my outfit because Josie asked you to be nice to me, those are what I dreamed about.”

They both smiled, thinking about their rocky childhood, and how the two had spent so much time hating each other for no reason.

Eventually, Hope continued.

“On the nights I didn’t dream of us making your dad’s life a nightmare, I had nightmares of my own. I dreamed about my parents getting taken from me, I dreamed of Josie moving on, but worst of all, I’d dream about you fading away. I’d dream about you finding something, or someone, better than me to spend your time and energy on. Again, it’s stupid and we weren’t even friends at the time, but-“

“You’ve been through a lot Hope, and maybe you don’t want to say it out loud because you’re scared to admit it, but I _never_ planned on abandoning you. Especially not after you gave me the chance to learn more about you. It was easy to hate the girl who told an entire school about my mental breakdown, but that _wasn’t_ Hope Mikaelson. That was _never_ Hope Mikaelson, and that’s all it took for me to know that, for all my life, I’d been wrong about you.”

Lizzie pulled Hope into her chest, and let her fingers run through the brunette’s hair.

“We always joked about you coming back here to Salvatore, but I didn’t actually think you would. With all your friends and popularity over there, I thought you’d forget about me too...”

Hope spun her head around to see Lizzie letting a few tears of her own loose.

“You weren’t the only one scared of being alone. I had friends here, but I lost Josie the day you left. I know she was _physically_ here the whole time, and I could’ve just went and talked to her, but I felt like I didn’t know her. I felt like my whole life I’d been living with a sister that I didn’t even know any more, and so I hate to admit it, but part of the reason I reached out to contact you was because you knew Josie the way I did. You knew what it was like to love the version of her that I missed and wanted so desperately to get back. That, and I knew you were hurting too, so I thought that maybe we would hurt less if we went through it together.”

The duo laid on the couch while the rest of the students headed to dinner, and they let themselves catch up on all the time they missed out on as kids.

At some point, they ended up falling asleep where they were until an alarm went off. The pair looked over to see Lizzie’s phone buzzing.

Hope read it out loud: _“7:45PM - Josie. Dinner.”_

She looked at Lizzie for an explanation, and Lizzie looked back guiltily.

_“So while you were away, I may have told you a few things that weren’t true, too...”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading - once again, all comments are appreciated!


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